Good but not great

Wrecking Ball brought me Red Dirt Girl, then Spyboy, then all the rest. I am an Emmylou Harris completist; I own all of her available CDs (including Sally Rose and White Shoes). Thus may you realize how I prize Ms. Harris' music.

Cimarron is somewhat similar to a child born despite birth control, in that it's comprised largely of songs rejected from previous albums. That, of itself, isn't bad: some of Bob Dylan's very best recordings were "outtakes" from his 1980's albums.

I believe this album came to life during Ms. Harris' pregnancy that gave birth to her daughter Meghann; I believe three albums surrounded that pregnancy: Roses in the Snow, Light of the Stable, and Cimarron. I tend to listen to this CD with that in mind: due to the nature of radio and the public's awareness of available music, Ms. Harris felt it important to release albums regularly. Perhaps, in hindsight, she would have been better served to wait a while before releasing this album. But, although it's in some ways flawed (especially considering its masterpiece forebear, Roses in the Snow), it's not at all bad.

But, for me, it's not a five-star album. Still, there's lots of great music here. "Rose of Cimarron", "If I Needed You", and "Tennessee Rose" are classic Emmylou Harris songs. In fact, there's not a bad song here; it's just that the highlights are less spectacular than those of some other Harris recordings from this era.

This IS NOT a bad album; if you enjoy Ms. Harris' recordings then this is a must-have for you. I only wrote this review because I was surprised at all the five-star ratings; Cimarron isn't that good. But it's very good, and four honest stars place it above much of today's music.

Soulful country music

This brilliant album is rich in sonic gems. To my ears, Cimarron's on a par with classics like Pieces Of The Sky and her bluegrass masterpiece Roses In The Snow. She sails through Rose Of Cimarron as if it were written specially for her, her version of Spanish Is The Loving Tongue aches with beauty and If I Needed You, the duet with Don Williams, grips the listener with its sincere and elegant tone. Another Lonesome Morning is a delicate weepie, while The Last Cheater's Waltz reminds me of Richard Thompson's much later but equally gorgeous Waltzing's For Dreamers. She rocks away on the lively Born To Run (not Springsteen's) and then delves into the sadness again with Springsteen's The Price You Pay. The somber Son Of A Rotten Gambler with its rousing chorus is followed by Tennessee Waltz, the best version I've heard, and Tennessee Rose, another flowing ballad. Harris' music has a certain spiritual quality that makes listening to her an almost numenous experience. In its ability to speak to the soul, her voice is almost unrivalled.

What else can we say but that she has a voice of an angel?

A lot of people are lamenting the sorry state of country music today, with it making more and more concessions to popular tastes. While I admit to being one of those naysayers, I go for country music that takes risks, but still has enough twang to truly be called country. And sure enough, Emmylou Harris can best be called one of the first country artists to venture outside the confines of the genre, and still be accepted as one of country's own. A protege of the legendary country-rock godfather Gram Parsons, Emmylou has been bringing her distinctive style to just about every song from country to folk to straightahead rock. Thanks to that, some of the most unlikely songs have become country standards in spite of their non-country pedigrees. By 1981's CIMARRON, Emmylou had been making music for well over a decade (although her first album PIECES OF THE SKY was released in 1975). As a hitmaker, her days were coming to an end, but as an innovator, she hadn't yet begun to quit. Emmylou can take even the most well-worn country standards, and make them sound as if they were written yesterday like that old warhorse "Tennessee Waltz", a short 2:30 song in an album filled with numerous 4-minute tunes (which is near-epic-length for country music). I'm sure every country singer worth their salt has attempted "Tennesee Waltz" at one time or another, but Emmylou does what she has done numerous times before, making it sound like it was written for her all along. Other country greats given a new lease on life by Emmylou include "The Last Cheater's Waltz" (originally a hit for T.G. Sheppard), which is a much longer version so as to showcase the excellent musicianship of her band, "Son Of A Rotten Gambler" (written by Chip Taylor, who also penned such disparate ditties as "Wild Thing" and "Angel Of The Morning"), and the traditional "Spanish Is A Loving Tongue". But to prove that Emmylou was more risk-taking than her fellow country-ites, CIMARRON has its share of more modern, contemporary numbers. "Rose Of Cimarron" was originally a hit song for the country-rock band Poco; "If I Needed You" (a duet with country great Don Williams) was written by legendary folk singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt; "The Price You Pay" originally appeared on Bruce Springsteen's double album THE RIVER (1980). All of these are given enough country sound to make one forget the fact they were written by people far from the country radar as possible. The other songs on CIMARRON were probably written especially for the album: "Another Lonely Morning" is a great song just looking for someone to cover it (even if it may not be better than Emmylou's); "Born To Run" (NOT the Bruce Springsteen classic) was written by Paul Kennerley, who would later become Emmylou's third husband; "Tennessee Rose" was written by Emmylou band member Hank DeVito. With all those wonderful songs, CIMARRON was a wonderful album already, but because it has been released on CD for the very first time, the deal is made even sweeter with the inclusion of a rare song called "Colors Of Your Heart", written by former Emmylou bandmate Rodney Crowell. While he had long went solo from her, this song proves why Crowell is one of Emmylou's favorite songwriters, and also a fellow "modern traditionalist" like her. After CIMARRON would come the live album LAST DATE, which was unique in the fact that it contained songs Emmylou had not yet recorded in the studio. Unfortunately, that would be her last truly successful album on the charts. But that allowed Emmylou to experiment even more with her music, resulting in such uncategorizable masterpieces like WRECKING BALL (1995) and RED DIRT GIRL (2000). For those who were introduced to Emmylou Harris courtesy of those classics, earlier albums like CIMARRON will help show that she's had it in her for more than 3 decades, and hopefully, is not thinking of slowing down any time soon.